


The Metacrisis Crisis

by Forget_About_Me



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Biology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Crying, Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Innuendo, Insecurity, Not Canon Compliant, Omorashi, Protective, Protective Doctor (Doctor Who), Protective Siblings, Protectiveness, Self-Discovery, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy, Wetting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-07-23 23:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20016544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forget_About_Me/pseuds/Forget_About_Me
Summary: After leaving the crucible things are a bit complicated and difficult for the Doctor and his friends. More has changed than they ever would've expected.





	1. Drowning in Self-Pity

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look at this, the story I've been teasing for like 4 months and actually have been working on for over half a year. *rubs neck sheepishly* Well, I actually haven't quite finished it, I've kinda extended the story from what I originally planned... I mean this was originally supposed to be a one-shot. But I've currently hit the 16k words already written sooooo.... it's going to be a proper story. I haven't finished it yet, nor have I split everything I have in chapters yet. I expect that everything will split into 4 or 5 chapters? I expect to put the second chapter up somewhere next week.  
> I'll probably add tags as I go but for now I added everything I could think of that occurs in what I have written already.  
> Beyond that, enjoy the story.

The Metacrisis closed the door to his bedroom and let out a deep sigh, he felt weird and terrible. 

They had just gotten back from dropping Rose and Jackie of in Pete’s universe. He was glad that he hadn’t been forced to go there, he wanted to stay in this universe on the TARDIS, though he doubted if that was possible, the Time Lord probably wouldn’t want him here. 

Rose had been surprisingly okay with being dropped off. She apparently had built a life before the dimension cannon worked and she just wanted a proper goodbye.

_One that didn’t involve a hologram._

The Metacrisis ran a hand through his hair, he had trouble grasping that he was only a couple of hours old.

He did have the Time Lord's memories which made him feel as if he had a history.

_But he hadn't._

All those memories felt as if they were his own, yet they felt foreign. His memories were more vibrant than what he was currently experiencing and it felt utterly _wrong_. Everything was so different and he hated it. He knew that the difference was because he was a human now and humans simply had less advanced senses than Time Lords.

He had been mortified when he had realized the change in biology when he had been alone with Donna. He had known something was wrong from the moment he had come to awareness in the burning TARDIS, he had ignored it in favour of saving the ancient time ship.

Knowing that the wrong feeling he had was actually normal hadn't been much comfort, but it did allow him to ignore it in favour of dealing with Davros and the Daleks.

_But he felt so wrong!_

It felt as if he was submerged, everything was damped. He was missing a lot of input he was so used to getting.

The Metacrisis sank down on the bed, _well collapsed, to be honest_ , he was tired. It was taking him a lot more energy than it should to function, mostly because he didn't quite know how. A lot of things where slightly different than how he knew them to be, but adjusting to all those small changes was actually quite hard. He knew his coordination had gotten a lot worse, human muscles operated a bit different from Gallifreyan muscles and the strength was certainly different. He wasn't sure how he had gotten through the day without falling, he had only stumbled a couple of times, not that anyone had noticed.

 _Too busy with their own things_. He thought bitterly.

However, Mickey had seen him miss-grabbing a lever on the console. The Metacrisis' singular heart, his nose wrinkled in disgust at the reminder, had stopped beating for a second, waiting for Mickey to say something. Fortunately, the former companion kept quiet, probably just shrugged it off as a slight act of clumsiness. The newly created Doctor had felt immense relieve at Mickey's silence. If he had said something, everyone in the console room would have heard and questioned him, forcing him to talk about the changes.

He didn't want to talk about them though, _not at all._ He wanted to ignore them. He wanted to act as if nothing was wrong. 

As if nothing was different.

As if he was still a Time Lord.

_Still The Doctor._

Of course, he knew that that wasn't the case. He was different from the Time Lord and not just because their species were different.

He had also gotten some DNA from Donna. Very little, though, not enough to really change him much, but enough for him to be slightly different than how he would've been if he had just turned human.

Sure, he couldn't be sure how different he was because of Donna's involvement as he didn't know, _and would never know_ , how he would've been without her influencing his DNA.

The man put his head in his hands.

Without Donna he never would've been here, he wondered if that would've been a bad thing. No one seemed to particularly want him to be there. Hell, he didn't really want to be here either, he hated all the new sensations he couldn't quite understand. It was similar, yet completely different, to regeneration and not in a good way. He hated regenerating, to begin with, he didn’t want to deal with a worse version of it.

Not to mention the fact that if he hadn't been here, Donna still would've been fine and not currently brought home having lost the memories of her travels with the Time Lord. There was a small hope that they could restore her using a modified version of the Chameleon Arch, it was Martha who had come up with the idea after learning what the metacrisis had done to redheads' brain. It didn't change the fact that Donna essentially had been hurt during his creation, nor how guilty he felt over it. _Despite not having had any control over the process, and essentially being a victim of the Metacrisis himself._

The (technically) newborn man was too engrossed in his self-pity and cursing his own existence to notice the door of the room open.

* * *

The Doctor walked slowly through the corridor, his hands in his pockets, deep in thought. The TARDIS was parked in Sarah Jane’s attic, she had requested it after they had come back from bringing Donna home, so she could check in with her son. Promising to tell him the full story later. 

She had gone with him to Donna’s home. He had originally asked his counterpart to go with him, but that had quickly been rebuffed. There was a chance that seeing two of him would confuse Donna’s family and would make it harder to explain what happened. The group still had decided that he shouldn’t be doing this on his own and it had been decided that Sarah Jane would go with him. He had protested but secretly had felt relieved. He hadn’t wanted to go alone. The reason he had asked the Metacrisis to go with him in the first place.

There was no way he could describe the hurt he felt when Donna had interacted with him, acting as if he was a complete stranger. The worst part,

_to her he was._

She had forgotten about him. No one was even allowed to tell her about him, that she had forgotten who he was.

_Because that knowledge would burn her mind._

It had taken all his effort to not request her to remember him. He had known it was possible that the interaction would take place, he had known that it would be terrible if it did and that he couldn’t tell her anything.

The only small comfort he had was the possibility of a plan to restore her mind, the plan Martha had suggested earlier. There hadn’t been time to go over the details and risks, but they all knew they were there. So Donna had given her grandfather the rights to make her medical decisions on the subject before allowing the Time Lord to take away her memories.

“ _This isn’t the end, Spaceman.”_ She had said, fully trusting in his abilities to fix it.

The Doctor got startled out of his thoughts by the call of his name. He looked up, meeting an empty hallway. He frowned, turning around until he noticed the open door he had just walked past. He quickly walked back and look around the corner to see who had wanted his attention.

Martha, Jack and Mickey were sitting in the living room drinking tea together, all eyes were turned to the door, where he was.

“Yeah?” He asked, wondering what they had wanted his attention for.

“How did they take it?” Jack asked softly, hating the topic, but he knew that they had to discuss it. He had learned that the Time Lord would better process something if he was forced to speak about it.

The Doctor walked fully into the room, his hand stuffed deep into his pockets. He stopped in front of the couch just before he was going to sit down, remembering his wet clothes. He didn't want to anger the TARDIS by making the couch wet as well.

He looked at all to Jack, before answering in a whisper.

“About as you'd expect. Her mother is angry about it. Wilf is just sad.” He sighed. “It helps that there is a chance she can be healed.” He looked down at the floor, once again thinking about Donna not recognizing him earlier.

The Time Lord quickly got once again broken out of his reverie by someone calling his name. He shot an apologetic look to Martha.

“Sorry, just...” He started but she interrupted him.

“It's okay, you don't need to explain.” She smiled sadly at him.” Why don't you go and change your clothes? You're soaked. How did that even happen?” She ended with a frown.

“It's raining. What happened earlier caused some atmospheric disturbance. Don't worry, it will pass.” He shot them a small smile before turning away to leave the room. “I'm going to take a shower.”

“Wait! Doctor!” He heard Mickey exclaim, stopping him in his tracks. He turned around and looked at the man questioningly.

“Do you know what your.. errr... other self? Is up to, we haven't seen him since you left.” Mickey asked.

The Time Lord raised an eyebrow. “Why would I know?”

“You should know him best?” Mickey said in a whisper.

The Doctor sighed. “I suppose. But no, I have no idea where he is.” He frowned “I think I'll hunt him down later, there's much that needs to be discussed.” He nodded to himself. “But for now I'm going to take a shower.” He turned away once more and left the room, this time without being interrupted.

While he was walking through the hallway to his room his thought wandered to the metacrisis version of himself who was created earlier.

He wasn't sure how to feel about him, it was a bit disconcerting to have someone who looked identical to you around. But he supposed he could get used to that. They weren't the same, The Doctor had sensed that the moment he had saw him. Donna had had an influence on him, and not to forget he was human. Nevertheless, they were similar in a way that siblings would be, they even shared a sibling bond to prove that fact.

Gallifreyan children could form bonds with their siblings the first time they touched them. It had been discovered that it would become more likely for siblings to form those bonds the more their DNA looked alike. The main reason for this was that it meant that their minds were built in very similar ways and therefore compatible.

He wondered how he was capable of forming a bond with the other him since he wasn’t fully Time Lord. He had sensed that the moment he had seen him. He was part human, part Time Lord. The percentages though, he had no clue.

 _I should probably scan him to get a clear picture of what has been changed during the metacrisis._ He frowned to himself. _I don’t even know if he is stable. What if his body can’t handle the combination of human and Gallifreyan DNA?!_

The Time Lord stopped in his tracks at the thought, feeling a form of panic bubbling up. He didn’t think that he could stand losing, what was effective, his brother.

He shook his head to clear it. That wouldn’t happen, he wouldn’t let it. He was just making things up, he had no reason to believe anything was wrong with the man that had been created a couple of hours earlier.

The Doctor nodded to himself, trying to assure himself of that fact and continued on down the hallway. Nevertheless, he resolved to hunt down his counterpart and drag him to the infirmary to run tests on him.

The Time Lord reached his room and opened the door, only to find the cause of his slight mental distress sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.

The Doctor was immediately on high alert. He quickly made his way over to the bed and crouched down in front of the Metacrisis, carefully taking a hold of his wrists and removing them so he could look the other in the eyes. Not that the other man let him.

“ What’s wrong?” He asked in concern. “Is something hurting?”

When he didn’t get a response the Time Lord reached out for their bond. He immediately was overwhelmed by emotions coming from the part-human man.

He could feel the man's desire to hide from the world, the wish to just disappear, to not exists and it broke the Doctor’s hearts. The man was reacting to the day's events a lot worse than he had expected.

“ Okay, hey. Can you look at me?” When the Metacrisis didn’t react to him, The Time Lord reached out to stroke the other’s cheek, which startled him out of the downward spiral his thoughts had taken him.

* * *

He blinked twice staring at the Time Lord before it clicked. He quickly stood up and tried to make his way to the door.

“Sorry, I didn’t… I’m not supposed to… Sorry. This isn’t my … I’ll just ....” He struggled to say, before quickly turning around planning to get as far away as possible.

He had barely made one step before he felt two strong arms embracing his middle, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

“Let me go!” He exclaimed to the Time Lord in panic. While trying to wiggle his way out of the arms, even though he knew that it was futile, the Time Lord was much stronger than him. This realisation caused him to panic, even more, there was no way he was going to escape the punishment he would surely get for being in a room he wasn’t allowed in.

The Time Lord carefully held onto his brother as he was struggling. He frowned as he sensed fear through the bond. The Doctor wondered why he would be afraid of him, he should know that he would never hurt him. He had been him up to a couple of hours ago, he knew what was going on in the Time Lord’s brain. Logically the Metacrisis should know that he wasn’t going to be hurt.

 _Logically_ The Time Lord blinked to himself. _He isn’t thinking logically._

His brother was extremely upset. he could feel it through the bond. Of course, he’s not thinking straight. It still worried him that the other thought that The Doctor would hurt him.

“Hey, hey. Calm down.” The Time Lord coached gently. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The Metacrisis didn’t seem to hear him and started kicking, trying to get out. The Time Lord sent soothing vibes through their shared bond as he pulled the man closer.

“I would never hurt you. I’m here to help.” He continued in a soft voice. “Let me help.”

The other man slowly stopped resisting, the combination of the words and the soothing feeling in his mind had helped to calm him down.

When the Time Lord was certain his brother was done with fighting, he carefully guided him to sit back down on the bed again and sat down next to him. He started rubbing the younger's back in a comforting manner.

“Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?” He asked gently.

The Metacrisis answered with a shrug, but the Doctor could sense that he was still considering his answer so he waited.

They sat in silence for a while, the part-human man was trying to figure out what to say while the Time Lord was waiting for him while running through scenarios as of what could be wrong.

“I shouldn’t exist.” The Metacrisis finally whispered.

The Doctor frowned at that. “What makes you say that?” He asked softly.

“ It’s just...” His brother paused. “ no one wants me to be here. I’m just an inconvenience, I’m useless. Here to make things worse. Besides...” He looked down to his lap before continuing in a whisper. “Donna would’ve been fine.”

The Time Lord winced internally at the words. The words held no truth in them, but he knew that the other man believed them. He had to rectify that.

“ Right, look at me.” He said sternly, turning his body towards the Metacrisis as the other did the same. “Okay, let’s pretend that the metacrisis didn’t happen earlier today.”

“ But it did.” His brother interrupted him with a frown.

“ It did. But, like I said we’re pretending it didn’t happen. How would the events have unfolded if it didn’t happen?” The Doctor wondered.

“ Pretty much the same, I guess. Just without me.” He answered while fiddling with his shirt.

“ You think so?” At the other’s nod, the Time Lord continued. “Right. What is the first thing you remember? What was going on?”

He had a suspicion as of what had happened in the TARDIS while it was falling into the heart of the Crucible. But decided to get the full account of what happened from his brother, also because it could help him in pointing out why his creation was necessary.

“ There was this bright yellow light, I suppose regeneration energy. And then I was just sitting on the floor of the TARDIS… naked…. Why are we talking about this?” He turned to the Time Lord with a frustrated look on his face and a slight blush on his face.

“ We’ll get there in just a bit, just keep talking.” He answered.

“ The TARDIS was on fire, because of the heat in the heart. I started the dematerialisation process and moved her just outside of the crucible. And then I got dressed.” He continued.

“Stop! That’s it, repeat that!” The Doctor interrupted enthusiastically.

“And then I got dressed?” The Metacrisis repeated in an uncertain tone.

“ No, not that. Before that.” The Time Lord amended.

“ I moved the TARDIS out of the crucible?” He tried again.

“ Yes! Now tell me. What would’ve happened if you hadn’t done that? ” He queried.

His brother thought about that for a second before answering.

“The TARDIS would’ve been destroyed with me and Donna still in it.”

“ Yes, now if you hadn’t been created and therefore not able to move the TARDIS what would’ve happened?” The Doctor prompted.

“ The TARDIS would’ve been killed among with Donna, which would have been worse than what actually happened.” The Metacrisis answered, with an enthusiastic smile, finally catching on to what the Time Lord was saying. Then his expression turned into a frown. “But that isn’t true, if I hadn’t been created, Donna wouldn’t have stayed in the TARDIS because of what she heard. She would’ve been safe outside of the TARDIS.” He reasoned.

The Doctor thought about that for a second before answering.

“Yes, you’re probably right about that. But, the TARDIS herself would’ve still been destroyed. “

His brother nodded, the smile returning to his face. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“ Feel better?” The Time Lord queried.

“ A bit.” The Metacrisis sighed. “Sorry, I’m probably being irrational now. It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you.” The Doctor said reassuringly. “Tell me?”

His brother shifted slightly, nervous.

“ Everything feels different. _Wrong._ ” He amended. “ I’m human now, and just...” He stopped, unable to continue. He moved to hug his knees, needing the comfort of it.

The Time Lord looked sympathetic at the part-human man. Before nudging him through their bond.

_A bond that could only be formed between Time Lords._

The other man didn’t seem to notice his attempt to show him the truth. So he just tried to nudge again, but again the Metacrisis didn’t notice it. Too engrossed into his own grief.

The Doctor sighed and decided that a more direct approach was necessary.

“ You’re wrong, though” He spoke out loud.

His brother moved his head from his knees to look questioningly at the Time Lord, who just smiled slightly.

“ You haven’t noticed.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. The Metacrisis frowned and shook his head.

“Noticed what?” He asked, at which the Doctor nudged the bond again. The other noticed it this time and couldn’t help but stare in shock at the Time Lord when he realised the implications. “We have a bond. But...” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“A bond that can only be formed between two Gallifreyans.” The Doctor confirmed. “Obviously you’re not completely human, there’s still some Gallifreyan left in you.”

“ But everything feels so different. Like there are fewer incentives. And...” He blushed slightly before continuing in a whisper. “I’m having trouble manoeuvring my body.”

The Time Lord looked sadly at his brother.

“As I said, there is only a part of you still Gallifreyan. You are partly human, I’m not sure what has become human and what has stayed the same for you. We’d have to run tests to find that out. It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that your body _did_ change, I can’t change that and you know it. And I know that you don’t like it nor do I know exactly how you feel, but I can guess. Correct me if I’m wrong but there are changes you’re experiencing that also happen during regeneration, right?” At the others nod, he continued. “ We got through those as well, you just need to adjust. And I suppose this is harder for you than regeneration, but you should be able to get through it. I’ll be here to help you and others will be as well if you ask. Though you probably won’t.” he frowned. “I’m not really good at this.” He admitted. The Metacrisis smiled slightly at the Doctor.

“I know. I think I’m getting what you’re trying to say.” He looked away at the wall with a sigh. “I don’t really want to think about it any more right now.” He turned back to the Time Lord with a sudden enthusiasm as he got an idea. “Do you think we can go run those tests you mentioned earlier?”

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

“ Sure, though if you don’t mind I’d like to change clothes first.” He answered as he stood up. When he saw his brother deflate he added. “How about you go already and get the stuff we’ll need ready? Hmm? I’ll be there in just a bit.”.

The Metacrisis quickly nodded before leaving the room to do just that. The Time Lord shook his head in fondness at the behaviour of the other man before he started to unbutton his still soaked shirt. Sure, he could be like that himself. But for now, he was just glad that his brother was feeling a bit better.

  



	2. The Hazards of Teleports

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to be said about this chapter except that the plot is pretty cheap. But I'm broke so...

“All right, I think we’ve run enough tests to get a clear picture of your body.” The Doctor walked towards the screen on the side of the room where the results could be viewed. His brother followed behind him while putting his shirt back on.

“ Okay, let’s see.” The Time Lord mumbled as he turned the screen on. Immediately showing him a summary of the results. “Right, you’re DNA is 11.34 per cent Gallifreyan and 88.66 per cent human.”

“My body temperature is 34 degrees Celsius, just slightly below humans.” The Metacrisis continued.

Basically, they just talked through the results of the tests, but since the writer is too lazy to write it all down we’re just skipping most of it. This thing is getting too long as it is.

“ Okay, that’s interesting.” The Doctor said. “Your brain is completely Gallifreyan.”

“The only thing that is.” his brother stated, morose. “Probably why we’re still able to have a bond.”

“Yeah probably.” The Time Lord agreed. “Ooh! Are you seeing this?” He turned to the other man in excitement, who nodded. “You still got regeneration energy. Though it’s impossible to tell if it is because it is temporary or permanent. You only just got created with the help of my regeneration energy, after all.”

The Metacrisis nodded with a frown. “We’re going to have to keep an eye on that. We don’t know how my body is going to respond to the energy since it’s not really Gallifreyan any more.”

“We should and we will.” The Doctor agreed with him.

They spent a bit more time going over the results before the Time Lord started to notice that the other man had become very quiet. Just as he was about to stop and check on him he felt a weight leaning on his shoulder. He turned his head to see that it was his brother, resting his head on him, he was more asleep than awake.

The Doctor smiled slightly at this. The other man must be exhausted, he wasn’t used to his body so it probably took him more energy to move around, the events in itself had already been intense for everyone involved, but probably more for him. Also, the conversation they had had earlier must’ve been tiring. 

_Emotions were tiring._

The Time Lord decided to shake the other carefully. The other groaned in displeasure but slightly opened his eyes to look at The Doctor sleepily.

“Come on, let’s get you into bed so you can rest.” The Gallifreyan announced as he started guiding the Metacrisis out of the infirmary.

“Isn’t it a bit early for bed?” The other man asked as he rubbed his eyes, letting the Time Lord guide him anyway.

“Maybe a bit, but you’re barely staying awake as it is. You need the rest.” The Doctor told his brother, who nodded, giving up the fight, mostly because he didn’t have the energy for it.

The Time Lord let them to their bedroom. The Metacrisis crashed into the bed gracefully. The Doctor sighed as he walked towards the drawer.

“You have to stay awake a bit longer, you can’t sleep in that. You’ll regret that when you wake up and you know it” He pointed out, having experienced more than once how uncomfortable it was to sleep in his suit.

His brother whined but pushed himself up in a sitting position while starting to tug off his t-shirt, knowing that the Time Lord was telling the truth.

The Doctor dropped some clothes on the bed next to the Metacrisis. “You can wear those. We should probably get you some clothes of your own later.”

The other man nodded in response while he was working with the fastenings of his trousers. “Yeah, I don't think this is my style any more”

The Time Lord nodded in understanding. “Didn't really expect it to stay the same. You're different than me, but we already went over that.”

“Hmm, I'll look at clothes later.” his brother let out another yawn as he put on the pyjama pants he was given.

“Why don't you just climb into bed and sleep now.” The Doctor instructed him. “We can indeed sort everything out later after you've rested.”

The Metacrisis nodded before stretching onto the bed, not bothering to cover himself under the duvet.

The Time Lord smiled at this.

“I said into bed not... “ He started but got interrupted by soft snores coming from the other man. “onto it.”

He sighed before carefully manoeuvring the other under the blankets, he didn't want him to get cold.

When he was confident that the other was properly covered, The Doctor stopped and looked at him with a neutral expression. It was still a bit weird to look at and interact with basically himself. He would have to get used to that. He worried about his brother, he was obviously having a hard time adjusting. He was glad that the other man at least was honest about it after he had pushed him to.

The Time Lord ran a hand lightly through the other man's hair.

“It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay.” He softly told the man, careful not to wake him up.

He turned and picked up the clothes that the Metacrisis had dropped on the floor and threw them in the laundry chute that he had in both the bedroom and bathroom, before heading towards the bathroom. He had come to their room for a shower, after all.

The Time Lord quietly closed the bathroom door, careful not to wake his brother up. After this, he quickly stripped down and jumped under the hot shower, which the TARDIS had gladly provided for him. He let out a small sigh in relief as the hot water loosened his muscles and made him temporarily forget about the day's events. The day had been crazy, even for his standards, and the consequences of the events were huge.

_Life would never be the same, that was certain._

The Time Lord shook his head. That wasn't really a new thing, change was a constant factor in life. It would be boring otherwise. It was interesting to interact with, what essentially was, his twin. He shied away from the word _clone._ The other wasn't his clone, he was different. He doubted the Metacrisis would want to be referred to as _that._ He hated the idea already, and it wasn't even essentially about him.

Thinking of that reminded the Time Lord of an issue. He had no clue how to refer the other man. He didn't have a name yet. Sure, he could call him his brother, and would as well, but that wasn't the best option in all situations.

The Doctor mentally sighed as he rinsed out the shampoo from his hair, he would have to talk about a name with his brother later. But not immediately, he wanted to give the man an opportunity to come up with the topic himself.

The man obviously had enough problems as it was.

The main issue being the changed body, his brother was going to have to come to terms with it. The Time Lord didn't envy him, not at all. He did wish that he could make it easier for his counterpart though.

_But he couldn't._

The other wasn't in pain. He was just having a fight with his body, having trouble manoeuvring it. This wasn't exactly rare to happen when a Time Lord regenerated. But the way in which his brother's body had changed was on a whole different scale than regeneration.

The Doctor was expecting the other to come across a lot of problems that were caused by the differences between humans and Gallifreyans. A lot of them would be things they probably wouldn't even expect.

He sighed, hating that he couldn't do more for the man than comfort and protect him. He wanted to take care of him.

_Take care of his little brother._

The Time Lord turned off the shower while berating himself for his last thought. He _was_ taking care of his brother, even if that only meant comforting and protecting him. That was the only thing he _could_ do.

After towelling himself dry he softly walked back into the bedroom and started to get dressed as quietly as possible so he wouldn’t wake the Metacrisis. He himself was a light sleeper, while Donna was a very heavy sleeper, he had more than enough experience with trying to wake her up and now wasn't exactly the right moment to find out how his brother tended to be.

He put the trousers he had been wearing previously back on because he had only worn it for about an hour and he had almost no clean suits left. 

Contrary to popular belief, he did _not_ have an infinite supply of suits.

The Doctor had just grabbed an under-shirt when he heard loud screaming, coming from somewhere outside the bedroom. He frowned, the only possible source of the screaming were the other three occupants of the TARDIS, but for the life of him couldn't he think of why any of them would be screaming. He strained to listen to what was being said, but failed to make out any words, the sound was a bit too muffled. But he did recognise the voices of both Martha and Jack to be the ones screaming, possibly at each other. Which the Time Lord found weird as those two got along swimmingly, he couldn't even imagine them fighting.

He shook his head, it was perfectly normal for them to fight, it was part of life overall and it had been a long and stressful day.

He got startled out of his thoughts by the small sound of complaint coming from the bed, he looked at his twin who was turning restless in his sleep. The man's sleep was obviously disturbed by the noise coming from outside the room.

The Time Lord frowned before quickly storming out of the room while putting on the T-shirt in his hands, set out to find loud humans that were waking up his brother and setting them straight.

He found the culprits, and Mickey, in the kitchen. Mickey was the only of the three who noticed his entranced and shot him a hopeless look.

The Doctor sighed in annoyance and crossed his arms.

“ _Okay!”_ He shouted startling the other two people in the room into silence. He nodded in satisfaction before strolling into the room. “That's better, isn't it?” He continued in normal volume.

“Right then, _Mickey,_ could you give me an explanation as of why these two _apes!”_ He waved in a pointing way at them. “Are waking up the whole TARDIS?” He leaned back against the kitchen table, clearly annoyed, as he waited for the man to answer.

Jack opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted by the Time Lord.

“Ah! I said, Mickey.” He told the ex-time agent sternly while glaring at him. He didn’t really want anything to do with this conversation, to begin with, so he wanted it to be over quickly, he was only here because they had been waking his brother up and he wouldn’t stand for that. Mickey could probably give him the best explanation as he might be a bit more neutral since he hadn’t been part of the screaming duo.

The immortal, slightly shocked by the anger the Time Lord showed, quickly shut his mouth and nodded.

_You didn’t want the Time Lord to be angry with you._ Everyone who had travelled enough time with the Doctor knew that and while Jack didn’t really know what he could’ve done to anger the Time Lord, besides fighting with Martha but he dismissed that possibility since it hadn’t involved The Doctor directly, he knew that he needed to try his hardest not to make it worse.

Mickey looked a bit startled as everyone in the room was looking at him, waiting for him to talk. He hadn’t expected the Time Lord to address him and was slightly nervous about it. The man took a deep breath and started his explanation.

“Well, I haven't been here the whole time.” He admitted. “I believe that Jack wants Martha to have some tests run on her but she's refusing.” He continued uncertainly. “I'm not sure how that could result in a fight like it did, though.”

The Doctor felt some of his anger morphing into worry. He could very well imagine how that disagreement could morph into a fight. He knew his companions better than they gave him credit for. Though he was certain that Martha knew that he was aware of her extreme dislike for medical scans performed on her. It was a trait he shared with her. There had been more than a few rows between them where one of them had been (potentially) injured and refused to go to the infirmary. They had both eventually learned how to defuse the other when the situation occurred. While he didn't know what had caused Jack to request her to get medical scans, he was pretty certain that the immortal didn't know about Martha's issue with medical scans. And that combination was, indeed, guaranteed to result in a shouting match.

He sighed before addressing the ex-Time-Agent.

“Tell me, Jack. What happened?” He asked while looking the immortal in the eyes. Something that took more effort than he was willing to show, as he still had to suppress his instincts regarding the man. Sure, it wasn't as bad as it had originally been. He had gotten slightly used to the walking fixed point he called his friend, but he doubted that he would ever be completely unbothered by it.

“ _Project Indigo,”_ Jack stated. “That's what happened.“

The Time Lord rose an eyebrow in confusion. “And what, pray tell, _is_ project indigo?” He wondered, dreading the answer.

“ _Project Indigo_ is UNIT's attempt at creating at creating a teleport device which allows the user to teleport anywhere on Earth.” The immortal explained.

The Doctor felt his blood run cold at Jack's words. He was perfectly aware of what the dangers of teleportation devices were. He suspected that Jack probably knew them as well, he was pretty sure that was covered during the training of Time Agents. Vortex Manipulators were technically teleportation devices with an upgrade after all.

_Not that the Time Agency would appreciate that analogy._

Humanity had had a lot of trouble creating reliable teleportation devices. Mainly because of the injuries an incorrectly designed device could cause. There were several incidents were volunteers disappeared after activation of the teleport device, no one knew what happened with those people. Most accidents had involved people teleporting successfully but losing part of themselves. This happened when a body got split during teleportation, which is something you _did_ not want to happen, and then not being put together correctly. A lot of humans had lost limbs that way and there were some situations where the victims had not survived, either because they lost something so vital or because they ended up somewhere from where they couldn't quickly get medical attention. Even if someone got over whole after having their body be split during the teleportation there were still risks. All cells would've been jumbled around temporary and the body was affected by this, this most commonly caused some organs to stop working. Something that was really dangerous and deadly, especially if it wasn't discovered. Like it had been in the early days of teleportation before humanity knew how it worked.

“And Martha here _used it!_ ” Jack exclaimed, pulling the Time Lord out of his musings. “ _Twice!”_ He added as an afterthought.

“Honestly, I'm fine. Look at me, totally fine” Martha said while indicating herself.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this, sceptical.

“Was this thing tested?” He asked though he could make an educated guess on the answer.

“It wasn't,” Jack confirmed. “But they used it _anyway!”_ He continued in frustration.

The Time Lord just shook his head at that.

“ _Brilliant._ As if my day wasn’t long enough yet _._ ” He muttered sarcastically then turned to look at Martha. Scanning her with his eyes. He couldn't see anything wrong with her, but that didn't mean anything. Any damage that teleport had done was probably on the inside if there was any.

He sighed. She needed to be examined, the chance that something was wrong with her shouldn't be ignored. No matter how much she did not like being examined.

“ _Right_ !” He started, adopting a cheerful front, one he didn't feel at all. “ _3274_. The year that marks the introduction of the first teleport for wide use by humankind.” He started slowly pacing the room.” You want to know why it took so long?” He paused to wait for a reaction.

“Do tell.” Martha dead-panned, looking not amused at his antics.

The Doctor mentally sighed, recognizing that Martha was absolutely not willing to be dragged to the infirmary. After the day they had, he couldn't really blame her. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with this himself if he was honest. But the circumstances didn't leave them any choice.

“Because it is really hard to get them to be safe. One small mistake and someone's arm gets left behind, or they themselves end up at a place without oxygen. Not to mention the effects it can have on the body when the initial teleport went right.“ He explained, slightly frustrated. “The effects of a poorly executed teleport on a body. The strain caused on the body often results in organ failures.” He stopped right in front of Martha, meeting her gaze dead-on, dropping the cheerful act before continuing in a flat but serious voice. “When the heart, lungs or part of the brain fail as a result of those teleport attempts, you would know immediately and the victim would be lucky to live. With other organ failures, it's not so obvious.” He yanked his thumb up to point behind him to the door. “ _Infirmary.”_ He ordered her. “ _Now.”_

He had given longer and more convincing speeches that had resulted with Martha completely agreeing that she needed to be looked over. He knew that the small speech he had just given wouldn't convince her enough to completely voluntary be checked out would not be enough that she could be pressed into going to the infirmary. The fact that Jack obviously wanted her to be checked out as well, would be a positive influence on her cooperating. He was also pretty certain that Mickey would help them if it came to it. He was just hoping it wouldn't.

Martha came to a similar conclusion as the Time Lord did. There was no way he and Jack would let her walk out of here without giving her some medical scans.

She was shocked by her alien friend ordering her to go to the infirmary, though. He had never done that before. He usually would just tell her about the risks until she felt bad enough to sent herself to the infirmary. He had never done it with force, but right now she didn’t doubt that he would if she refused to go.

She suspected that he didn't focus on convincing her as normal was because he was too tired to bother. Not that she blamed him, after the day they had. She was pretty sure that Davros had dug up some rather painful memories of the Time Lord and she was sure that the business with Donna was also being tough on him. Well, for everyone, but it must have hit him the hardest. He was closest to her after all.

All events of the day must've really tired him. She herself felt tired, really tired. She would love to just climb into bed and sleep for a week or so. She didn’t feel like she had the energy required to fight a body scan.

She let out a sighed and nodded at The Doctor. “Alright, let's just get it over with.” She mumbled before walking, defeated, out of the kitchen in the direction of the infirmary. Knowing that the men would follow her.

  



	3. Inpulsa Organi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the other 2 but the length should still be fine
> 
> I will in no way claim that I have any sort of medical degree, so don't blame me if there are inaccuracies, I promise I tried.

The Doctor put the last vial of blood in a scanner. It would take a minute or so before the results would be in.

He turned to the others.

“Right then. The results should be here at any moment.” He looked at Martha. “Then we’ll know if that teleport affected you.”

She nodded before asking; “What about the other you though? Shouldn’t he have a medical check-up? His body is different, isn’t it? Couldn’t there be changes that could potentially not be compatible or something?”

“Yeah. I checked him over earlier. He’s fine” He paused. “Well, for some definitions of fine.”

Jack frowned in concern. “What does that mean? What’s wrong with him?”

“He might be having some difficulty with his existence and … stuff.” He mumbled awkwardly, rubbing his neck. Realising he rather wouldn’t have revealed that. “ But, let me worry about that.” He told them a bit more enthusiastic. “No need for you lot to get involved.”

“Okay, but where is he now then? Should he be alone considering what you just said?” Martha wondered.

The Time Lord felt a pang of annoyance at the implication that he didn’t know how to take care of his brother but quickly swallowed it. He knew that wasn’t why she asked, she was just concerned about the other’s well being, just as he was really.

Besides, hadn’t she proven again and again that he wasn’t perfectly adept at looking after himself.

But then again, hadn’t he proven back that he was perfectly capable of taking care of his companions when he needed to.

He smiled to himself. Maybe they ought to stop the banter when medical things were involved. Because that was what this all was. Just banter.

Really though it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, they both forced the other to think about things they otherwise would never think off. They challenged each other academically. He liked that. Most of his companions weren’t able to challenge him like that.

It was one of the things he missed from his time travelling with Martha Jones.

_ Not that he would ever admit that out loud. _

“He’s sleeping. Everything he experienced tired him out rather quickly.” He answered. “ He, indeed, should probably not be alone too much.” He conceded, then his shoulders dropped. “I’m still working out the best way to help him. It’s probably not going to be easy” He admitted with a sigh.

The humans nodded in understanding.

“If you need help with that Doc, you can always ask,” Jack told him.

The Doctor nodded shyly at that. “Thanks.”

At that point a computer beeped, the Time Lord quickly turned to the screen to see the results. Jack itched to follow him and also look at the results, but he knew that it was useless as he couldn't read the Gallifreyan in which the result would be shown, so he waited.

The Doctor frowned at the numbers on the screen, knowing what they meant. He sighed, took his glasses and turned back to the humans, most of them already knew the truth from the way he was acting.

“You’ve got an Inpulsa Organi induced AKI.” He told Martha. “In other words, using that teleport jumbled up your cells which disrupted your kidney functions.”

Her shoulders sagged at that. She supposed that it made sense, it would explain why she felt so incredibly tired and the headache that had been coming on. She sighed, no longer able to deny something was wrong with her and that project indigo had caused it.

“Now what then?” She asked the Time Lord, who had started rifling through some cabinets, tiredly.

He held up a solution he just found up in answer. “This has been discovered in the year 2543, it basically undoes the jumbling of your cells and fixes any disruptions caused by it” He paused. “Most of it anyway, the body still has to do some healing.” He told her as he took her arm to put the infuse in. “And  _ no _ jumbling isn’t an official medical term” He added before she could ask. “This is going to need to be constantly transferred into your body for the next 26 hours or so, though. And there is a chance for some nasty side effects, which is why you should be monitored for the duration of this and stay close to the infirmary.” He met her gaze, showing how serious he was. “Also we will have to put some monitors on you as well. To monitor your condition.”

She nodded with a sigh. “You're not going to let me leave the TARDIS until I'm fully treated are you.”

“Of course not.” He agreed like it was obvious, and it was, as he inserted the IV into her vein, then he turned to Jack. “We're currently parked at Sarah Jane's place, so she could get back to her son quickly. I'm going to her in a bit to tell we're off to Cardiff.” At Jacks protests that he could get there on his own, he quickly added. “Moving the Earth, like she did, took a lot of energy, I need to go fuel her at the rift anyway. So I might as well take you there while I’m at it.” Jack nodded at that in agreement. He then turned back to Martha. “I'll take you back home as soon as I'm done with your treatment.” Finally, he faced Mickey a bit uncertainly. “I don't know where you want to go to.” He admitted.

“Me neither if I'm honest.” The man agreed with a laugh. “Maybe I can go with you Jack and you'll help me figure out what to do now?” He looked at the immortal hopefully.

“Of course Mickey Mouse, We'll find the perfect place for you. What about cheese delivery?” Jack joked with the obviously relieved Mickey. “No, I’m kidding. We actually have some open spots in our Torchwood team if you’re interested.”

“Torchwood?” Mickey frowned and turned to the Time Lord in concern.

The Doctor just sighed. “It’s not the same. Besides me and Jack have had more than enough conversations on the subject.” He looked seriously at Jack.

“You’re never gonna like it, are you, Doc?” The immortal asked, knowing the answer already.

“Hell no.” The Time Lord answered. “But I’m not going to stop it.”

“Language, Doc.” Jack teased.

The alien just glared at him.

* * *

Sarah Jane was perfectly agreeable to them leaving after he promised to come back later to be properly introduced to Luke, who was currently sleeping as it was already a bit late.

After Jack had checked on his team, who apparently had had a close call with a Dalek themselves, and said team had been introduced, they decided to order some pizza instead of making something themselves.

Jack made sure to tip the poor delivery boy who was out in the terrible weather, after the terrible events earlier and having to find the TARDIS, generously.

“What about the other you?” Mickey wondered as he opened his pizza box.

The Doctor looked up from his own box. “What about him?”

“Shouldn't he get something?” Mickey asked.

“I'll make him something to eat when he wakes up.” the Time Lord answered. “He needs the sleep and I doubt pizza is something he should try now anyway.”

“Why not?” Martha wondered.

The Doctor swallowed his bite. “When I regenerate my taste buds also change. When getting used to that food with a lot of mixed flavours can be a bit overwhelming.”

Martha nodded her understanding.

* * *

After the Torchwood team and Mickey left, Jack had claimed to have a place for the man, after all, the Time Lord dragged Martha once again to the infirmary, to check the progress of her treatment and whether there were any bad side effects.

“Well then, you’re good for now.” He smiled at her. “ Some small improvements from before and nothing that shows any signs of a bad reaction.”

She let out a slight sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good.”

“Yeah, though you’re not out of the woods just yet, we only just begun.” He told her. “ You should go get some sleep, it has been a long day. Your room is still where it used to be. I’m going to have to wake you early to run your vitals again”

“Right okay.” She nodded and stood up. “ Night, Doctor,” She said.

“Night Martha.” He answered back before she turned to leave the infirmary.

When the door closed he let out a deep sigh as he ran his hands over his face.

_ What a day.  _ He thought.

He had had many weird and crazy days but this one spanned the crown. First, the bloody Earth got moved, then he suddenly got a twin, he lost his best friend and one of his old companions got herself deadly injured. And all this in less than 24 hours.

He quickly cleaned up all the devices he had used earlier and left the infirmary himself

The Time Lord moved through the corridor to his bedroom, he quietly opened the door careful not to wake the sleeping man. He stared at his new brother for a few moments, he hesitated slightly before he took off his shirt and trousers before climbing into the other side of the bed. Not bothering to put on any kind of pyjama over his underwear, something he had pretty much scolded the other man for a couple of hours ago. He doubted that the Metacrisis would learn about that though, he would most likely wake up before the part-human man. The Doctor stared slightly at the other man, it felt a bit weird to be sharing the bed, mostly because they hadn’t really discussed it. Though he had shared a bed with his companions on numerous occasions, this felt different. He didn’t think that his brother would mind. Besides, he didn’t really have any other options, the TARDIS wasn’t in any state to create a different room for him after having spent the huge amount of energy on moving the Earth and he really needed some rest after the long day he had had. So really his only option was sharing the bed.

Okay, he could probably crash on the couch in the library, but that was frankly a bit uncomfortable and he would probably feel it in his back the next day. He was under no illusions that tomorrow would be a long day as well, not as long as today, mind. But still long, there was a lot of things that still needed to be addressed.

He sighed and banished the thought away, he would deal with everything as it came.

So, the Time Lord just snuggled into the duvet, banishing any remaining uncertainties about sharing and let sleep overtake him.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, the Doctor had been right about waking up before the other man. He once again found himself staring at the sleeping man, examining the mental bond they shared while being careful not to wake him up. He still hadn’t fully processed that he had a twin now, the fact that he had barely interacted with him probably hadn’t helped that. He wondered how the dynamics between them would be once the other had settled. He supposed that would take time though if he considered the mental state the man had been in yesterday.

He smiled slightly, he had forgotten how it was to have another Time Lord bonded to his mind. He had lost all his siblings during the war, he only vaguely remembered how painful that had been. His smile turned into a slight frown, he remembered enough of it to know that he didn’t want to repeat that experience.

He hadn’t expected to regain a sibling bond, much less with someone who seemed to be more mortal than him. He still had at least one regeneration left while the other had a human mortality. Well most likely anyway, there was still some Gallifreyan DNA in him and it wasn’t sure yet how much that affected the other man.

The Doctor sighed as he climbed out of bed again careful to not wake the other occupant. There wasn’t really any use thinking about those kinds of possibilities, he would just deal with it as it came.

He quietly got dressed in his suit, careful not to make too much noise to disturb the other man and left the room. The Metacrisis had been sleeping for nearly 10 hours now, so he supposed that the man would wake up soon, in time for breakfast. If that wasn’t the case he would just go and wake the other man up, he really needed to eat something soon.

He walked over to Martha’s room, no alarm had sounded during the night, which was a good thing. Nevertheless, he still wanted to check her over just in case. Side-effects from the treatment that weren't noticed could be rather dangerous. Part of him didn’t really want to go and wake her up, it was still a bit early in the morning and she did need her rest. But technically already too much time had passed since he had last given her a full check-up, because of the night, so it couldn’t really wait. He supposed it wouldn’t really be a problem, Martha had had about 7 hours of sleep already anyway and they weren’t going anywhere so she could easily catch some more later if she wanted.

His old companion let out a groan at his first attempt at waking her up by shaking her shoulder.

“Martha, wake up.” He said softly as he shook her a bit more. He needed her awake for some of the tests and it was just easier to wake her up at the beginning instead of at the moment he needed her to input. Mostly because it would save him having to carry her to the infirmary. Though there was also the risk of her waking up when he was taking her blood or something causing her to be startled. Those kinds of incidents usually created a mess. He once had ended up being stabbed with a needle as a result, after that he learned to just wake up people before running tests, provided they could be woken up.

“Five more minutes” She mumbled, turning away from him.

He smiled slightly. “You can catch those five minutes later. Right now I need you to wake up.”

She looked up blearily. “Why?”

“There are tests that need to be run.” He informed her. “And I need you awake for those.”

She groaned, covering herself with the duvet. “Can't that wait?”

He crossed his arms. “They are already overdue and you know it.”

Martha sat up with a sigh. “Alright, alright, I'm getting up.”

He smiled slightly. “Morning.”

She rubbed her eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. “Morning.”

“Right then, we have tests to run.” He looked expectantly at her.

She nodded as she climbed out of bed and put on her slippers. She moved in front of him pushing the infuse she had been given. “Shall we go then?”

The Doctor nodded “Let's go.” He stated before he moved to leave the room, leading them towards the infirmary.

  
  



	4. Learning one's body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the single- to last chapter to what I had written originally. I will continue this story though as I got attached to the world and have plenty of ideas and plots.

The Metacrisis version of the Doctor was slowly waking up from a dreamless sleep. He sat up, blinking his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. It felt a bit weird to do that. The Time Lord never needed to do something like that, he would just be awake instantly.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, frowning at the different sensations he received from it than he was used to. The list of things that were different with him compared to The Doctor kept growing.

_And he didn't like it one bit._

He swallowed frowning at the unfamiliar feeling in his throat, he tried to go over the status of all related organs to figure out what was wrong, only to find out that he couldn't do that.

His frown deepened, if he couldn't access that information again in this _human_ body then how was he going to know what his body needed?

Time Lords could get real-time information about how everything in their body was running and if there were any problems, you could compare it a bit to how humans could check if their computers were running correctly.

Not that you could compare Time Lords to computers, absolutely not.

As a Time Lord, he had always been dependent on that information to know what his body needed, so obviously, it was very disconcerting for the newly created Metacrisis to go without it.

He sighed, humans were able to read their own bodies to some degree, weren't they? They probably just did it in a different way than Gallifreyans.

He nodded to himself, that would explain his lack of internal diagnostics.

 _Now then, how do humans read their own bodies?_ He wondered.

He had never imagined that it would be different for humans. He always assumed that they experienced it the same as he did. He supposed that he would just have to figure it out as he went along, it wasn’t as if he had a choice anyway.

He just had to try and see how different things were.

Though it was obvious that it would be very different than what he was used to.

He ran his hands over his face, once again trying to ignore the unfamiliar feeling. With everything that he already had to adjust to he was in no mood on adding figuring out his body's messages to that list as well.

He threw the duvet off himself and moved himself to sit on the side of the bed taking a moment to centre himself.

His throat felt really uncomfortable, he really wanted that to resolve that first.

He tried to think of things that could cause an annoying feeling in the throat by humans.

 _Illness is one I suppose._ He thought to himself but immediately shook his head. No, he wasn't sick, was he? He was so _new_ that most illnesses couldn't have taken hold of him yet.

_No, it had to be something else._

He frowned, trying to think of anything his, The Time Lord's, human companions might have mentioned in the past that could help him figure this out. They probably would’ve revered to how they felt things.

He remembered his companions often complaining about a dry throat a lot, usually in combination of asking for water.

 _That's worth a try!_ He decided before standing up from the bed and making his way to the bathroom. He filled the glass the Time Lord kept there with water and then found himself gulping it down, it was surprising how nice the water felt on his throat.

After he had finished his glass the feeling of his throat was indeed mostly gone, for which he was grateful.

 _So that is thirst._ He nodded to himself, filling the information away for future reference. And he had the suspicion he was going to need it again pretty soon.

Now that was solved he decided to analyse what the rest of his body was telling him.

He found that besides the unfamiliar way he now perceived and felt everything he didn’t really experience anything he hadn’t noticed yesterday already.

Well, besides his stomach. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on there but he was pretty sure that it shouldn’t be feeling the way it was.

He sighed. He didn’t even know the words to describe the feeling, let alone deal with it, it was so unlike anything he had ever felt, he was so used to just troubleshooting his body with his mind.

To literally check if everything was alright. Not reading small hints from specific body parts, like he was pretty sure he was doing now.

_He hated it._

The Metacrisis decided to use the same technique as he used earlier to figure out what his body was trying to say. He suspected he was going to need to do that a lot. He didn’t really have a choice.

 _What can a human body possibly need?_ He wondered to himself.

They needed a lot of sleep, well he had just woken up so that probably wasn’t it.

They also needed a lot of water, that couldn’t be it either as he had already taken care of that.

 _How often do humans eat?_ He wondered. _A couple of times a day, if I go on the average of his companions._

He tilted his head slightly in thought. _Food is related to the stomach, so it would be possible._ He considered it. _I haven’t eaten yet in this body. How long has it even been?_ He wondered, not sure how long he has slept for. _I could probably ask The Doctor later._ He decided with a shrug before heading towards the kitchen. It couldn’t hurt to try some food.

* * *

He walked into the kitchen to discover both Martha and The Doctor there eating breakfast. He hesitated a bit in the door opening, not wanting to disturb them but he did want to try to eat something, that was why he had come here after all. He just had hoped that no one would be there. Just as he was about to try and sneak back out again to try later, the Time Lord noticed him.

“Ah, you’re awake.” He looked at the younger man eagerly. “How did you sleep?” He wondered.

“Good, I think.” He frowned slightly. “How long have I been asleep?”

The Doctor considered it for a short moment. “About 11 hours.”

The metacrisis wrinkled his nose slightly at that, the Time Lord would never need to sleep that long. Well, unless he was ill and then it still depended. “Right.” He looked around awkwardly.

“Come on. Sit.” The Doctor instructed gently as he pulled back the chair next to him. “I’ll make you something to eat.” He announced as he stood up to do just that.

The younger let out a small breath of relief and did as he was told. “You don’t have to do that. I can make my own breakfast.” He told the elder, though internally he was glad that he wouldn’t have to risk breaking something. He didn’t trust his own coordination and with a valid reason.

“Yes, you can.” The Time Lord agreed, he could sense that the other doubted his own ability and he wanted to encourage him. “But I want to.”

“Okay.” the metacrisis said in a small voice, resting his arms on the table. Not quite able to shake the uncomfortable feeling he had at the current setting. He was sure it showed.

He looked up at Martha, who was just taking a bite of her toast while obviously studying him.

_That discovery didn’t make him feel better in the slightest._

He shifted slightly in his chair. “So…” He began but then hesitated for a bit. “have I missed anything?” He asked as he looked down at the table. If he was honest, he didn’t want to be here with both Martha and The Doctor.

“Quite a bit actually I’m afraid.” The Time Lord answered from his place in front of the kitchen counter. “But don’t sweat it, we’ll talk you up to speed in a minute.” He added, reassuringly.

Martha nodded.

“You’ve missed a fight between me and Jack.” She announced with a slight grin. It had already long been forgiven between the two of them after the issue had been settled. It was still a shame that it had been bad news for her health. But that couldn’t be helped.

The man across the table raised a questioning eyebrow. “You and Jack? Not really something I would’ve expected to happen if I’m honest.” He knew nothing better than that the two of them got along swimmingly. “Although...” He frowned slightly. He knew that Martha could get nasty if her health was questioned in such a way that she should be brought to the infirmary. The Time Lord had more than enough experience with it, and with that, he himself, to know that. He scanned Martha with his eyes, searching for any sign something was wrong with her. He noted the infuse connected to her wrist and paused, all of a sudden he was able to guess what that fight had been about.

_Really, how hadn't he noticed the infuse before._

“Are you okay?” He asked her.

“Yes.” She answered.

“No.” The Time Lord answered at the same time as he turned back around with a plate and a glass of milk in his hands.

Martha shot a glare at the Time Lord, which he ignored. This wasn’t a discussion he was willing to have.

The metacrisis looked between the two. “What happened?” He asked curiously and slightly concerned.

“Inpulsa Organi.” The Doctor informed him. “In the form of an AKI.”

The other winced slightly at the mention, that wasn’t fun and neither was the treatment. “How?” He wondered it was a bit early for the human race to experiment with teleporting.

“UNIT.” He answered shortly as he put down the plate with toast and glass in front of the younger man.

He nodded at that. “ Probably could’ve guessed that.” He mumbled before turning to his breakfast. He frowned slightly at the toast with Jam, he hadn’t expected to get that. It was normal to eat food that tasted rather bland and neutral right after regeneration, to get used to the new taste buds. While what the Time Lord had given him wasn’t full of different tastes, it wasn’t on the list of neutral food he should probably be on.

He shot a questioning look at The Doctor, who had actually been expecting to be questioned about the decision so explained.

“I figured you might not want the usual, as you probably should. No one wants to! And considering everything that should probably be fine for you to have. I myself like it and we both know Donna loves it. And it still is somewhat neutral. It should work. Now eat!” The Time Lord nodded encouraging at the plate.

The Metacrisis considered the information for a bit before nodding and taking a bite of his toast.

It tasted different than he had expected, a bit more tasteless than he remembered, he supposed that the fact that he was human now was to blame once more. Time Lord taste buds could analyse the taste a lot better than human taste buds.

If he was honest he felt kind of relieved at this revelation, he had expected to be completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of tastes, as he was accustomed to with every regeneration. While the lack of taste was a bit of a disappointment, he at least didn’t have to worry about getting overloaded with taste. The main reason a neutral diet was customary right after regeneration.

He took another bite. Despite missing a lot of the taste he was accustomed to he found that it tasted pretty decent. He could imagine wanting to eat this again. But he definitely had to get used to the taste. 

“Is it okay?” The Doctor wondered, seeing the man slightly frown at the taste but not spitting it out.

The Metacrisis nodded. “It’s fine… just… tastes really different. Bit bland? Like it’s missing a lot of taste but it’s still fine.” He sighed, “I suppose I need to get used to it. But I don’t think I have to worry about being overwhelmed by food though.” He glanced a the Time Lord before continuing eating.

“That’s good.” The Doctor commented. “One thing of the list, I guess.”

The part-human groaned. “That list is getting way too long as it is.”

“Yeah, we’ll manage though.” The Time Lord stated patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll manage.”

* * *

Martha and The Doctor spend the most part of breakfast on telling the Metacrisis what had been going on.

“Mickey working for Jack.” The part-human man repeated with a chuckle. “Are you sure they are actually going to work together or just spend the day teasing each other?”

The Time Lord smiled, relieved that the other man was actually joking around, not completely focused on his changed body. He pretended to think it over. “Both of them can be serious when they need to, but would definitely tease each other endlessly when circumstances allow it. Like they have always done. They would work fine together, the sanity of the team is probably something we will have to worry about though.” He stated, struggling to keep a straight face.

They all burst out in laughter.

“I’d love to see that,” Martha said with a smile.

“Oh, yes.” The Metacrisis agreed. “A+ entertainment.” He turned to the Time Lord. “Do you think we could get a camera crew in. No one should miss that.”

“Well, “ The Time Lord started. ”I’m pretty sure, that if we get a camera crew in front of Jack we’ll get a completely different kind of entertainment. None that any of us wants to see.” He pulled a face in disgust.

“Yeah, okay. Probably a bad idea. We will just have to enjoy the Jack and Mickey show when we’re visiting.” The part human stated before reaching for his glass.

Which he promptly missed resulting in it being knocked over. The Metacrisis gasped in shock and was too late to react before the glass rolled off the table.

All humanoids at the table cringed slightly as they heard the glass shatter.

The Metacrisis stared at the broken glass, bracing himself for an angry Time Lord. He couldn’t do something as simple as grabbing a glass, why would they want him around. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

_He was just a burden._

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled as he tried to stand up to clean it up or something.

Only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

The Time Lord noticed the other’s sudden mood swing through their bond and had put a hand on the Metacrisis’ shoulder, sensing his intent. The mood-swing surprised him and rather worried him as well. He tried to calm his brother mentally as he stood up, while at the same time signalling to Martha that she should stay seated, moving to the other side of him, mindful not to step in any of the broken glass.

_He would clean that in just a bit._

“Hey,” he said gently as he crouched next to the chair the other man was sitting on, still sending calming vibes to the other through their link. “It happens. No need to apologize. It’s just a glass. Everyone drops a glass every now and then. You know that. We can have that cleaned up in a couple of minutes and you can just have a new one. No harm done.” He told the part human.

“But,” The Metacrisis started but then continued in Gallifreyan, not wanting Martha to hear it. ” _I’ll just break that one as well.”_ He frowned slightly. “ _Or are you going to give me one of the plastic cups?”_ He wondered, really not wanting to use one of those. Only the idea of them made him feel like a small child who couldn’t be trusted with breakable dinnerware. Okay, maybe with his current lack of coordination, he really couldn’t be trusted with it. But that didn’t change that feeling.

“ _For all I care you break fifty of them.”_ The Time Lord answered. “ _I really don’t care. You can’t help it. You need to work on your coordination. As you know, you can only do that by actually doing things, grabbing things.”_ He clarified. “ _Yes, the plastic cups would help prevent more glass from breaking. But it’s going to be different from real glass, so if I give that to you now. You will still have trouble when switching back to normal glasses. Besides, I’ve been looking for an excuse to get rid of that ugly cutlery set Jackie gave us for Christmas a couple of years back.”_ He joked with his little brother, who thankfully smiled slightly at that. “Okay?” He asked switching back to English.

The Metacrisis nodded. “Okay, sorry about that.” He looked down slightly in shame.

The Doctor straightened himself again and gave the younger man a quick kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get this cleaned up and give you a new glass milk.”

“But it’s my mess.” The other stated.

“I don’t care.” The Time Lord stated as he grabbed a new glass, from the cutlery set that Jackie had given him, and filled it up with milk. He turned back to the table and gave it to his little brother. “You just finish your breakfast, okay”

The Metacrisis just nodded.

* * *

The rest of breakfast went smoothly. The Time Lord might’ve been slightly disappointed that no more glasses got smashed, he had only partly been joking about the cutlery set Jackie had given him, but he didn’t dare voice that out loud.

Martha and The Doctor had finished filling in the Metacrisis about the day before and the conversation had slowly moved towards Donna. More specifically, how they were going to restore her using the Chameleon Arch.

“Like stated before, this has never happened before.” The Time Lord stared. “Using the Chameleon is the only thing we know that might work. But we will have to adapt it.”

“Yes, good thing we remembered to scan Donna’s changed body before removing the memories. This should make it easier to figure out how we have the Arch will have to be set.” His brother continued. “We should also keep in mind while changing the Arch that we don’t have another one. So we need to make sure that while we change it for Donna that we keep it functional.” At the aghast look of both Martha and The Doctor he added. “While I hope that we will never need it again. We can’t deny that we might, it’s the sole reason they been designed. To be used in emergencies.”

Martha nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s just that.”

“We don’t have _any_ happy memories of that thing.” The Doctor finished.

“Don’t I know it.” The Metacrisis mumbled to himself, the Time Lord should know that he had his old memories, right?

_Yes, of course, he did. I mentioned it yesterday._

“Anyway,” The Doctor started. “We should start working on it, for Donna. I think our first focus should be on figuring out how the Arch works in detail and work from there.”

The younger man nodded.”Yeah, that’s probably the best start. We could go to the library now and see what we have on the Arch there. I’m pretty sure we have documentation on it somewhere.”

“Don’t forget that the Torchwood team is to visit us,” Martha informed him, realising that they had forgotten to tell him that.

“We can just work on it ‘till they are here.” The Time Lord mused. “Every little bit helps, especially while figuring out how the Arch works, it’s something we can just walk away from if they others are here.”

“Okay, then let’s go to the library,” Martha stated, at the questioning look of both men she added. “I’ll just go read a bit while you guys work. Though I can give my opinion if you want.”

The Doctor smiled at her. “I doubt we’ll need that any time soon. Once we actually start on adjusting the Arch to Donna’s DNA we might start to bother you.”

“That’s fine. Though, don’t you dare wake me in the middle of the night for my opinion.” She glared at the Time Lord. “ _Again!”_

He saluted at her. “Yes, ma’am.”

  
  
  



	5. Learning the Hard Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I lied, this is the second to last chapter of what I have written till now. Again I will continue with this later.  
> I only put a little bit of googling effort in confirming my medical claims here, so understandably it's probably wrong, please don't kill me over it. I kinda didn't want my plot to get dethroned by facts, hate it when that happens.

So that was how the Metacrisis version of The Doctor, found himself sitting at a table, which was piled with books that could potentially teach them more about the Chameleon Arch. All of them were written in Gallifreyan, the Chameleon Arch was invented by Time Lords after all.

There wasn’t an easy way to determine if a book contained the information they needed, Time Lords had never been big on cataloguing their materials. Which meant that none of the books had an index, so they couldn’t just determine if the book contained the required information in one glance. The Doctor hadn’t bothered labelling the library either, just preferred to sort through books every time he needed something.

And often getting distracted by books completely unrelated to what he was searching.

The part human found this a stupid way of working and that surprised him. It was the Time Lord’s way. The way he had always followed, for as long as he could remember. Never questioned it.

_And now all of a sudden he found it stupid._

He suspected that it was Donna’s influence, she liked it when things were ordered and had more than once complained about the TARDIS’ library lacking any form of order. The Doctor had always just shrugged, telling her that he didn’t want to bother labelling the library as he was fine with it. But he had given her permission to sort it if she wanted.

She had tried but quickly discovered that she didn’t understand what most of the books were about and asking The Doctor hadn’t been an option as most of the times he just got distracted with the book she presented him with and didn’t actually tell her what it was about.

_I could work on cataloguing the library._ The Metacrisis thought to himself. _After, Donna is sorted though. Maybe she could help?”_

He closed the book he had been sorting through. It didn’t have the required information, but it was rather interesting anyway. It contained detailed descriptions of most of the medical devices they had and didn’t have. He put it away separately from the rest, so he could read it later. He was sure he didn’t know everything about those machines yet.

He grabbed the next book of the stack but didn’t open it yet. He found himself staring at the Time Lord, who was immersed in the book he was currently examining. From the look of it, the section he was reading didn’t have anything to do with the Arch, making the Metacrisis suspicious that the elder had just gotten distracted in his quest.

He frowned slightly and turned his head to look where Martha was laying on the couch deeply engrossed in a book of her own. He wasn’t sure which book, he couldn’t read the title. Maybe he would ask later.

He finally opened his own book, trying to get his focus on that, but he found it hard to concentrate. There was this weird feeling in his lower stomach and he had no idea why. He was pretty sure it had been there since he had woken op. It was distracting.

_Maybe he hadn’t eaten enough_.

After he had finished eating breakfast a part of the weird feeling in his stomach had been gone. Confirming his suspicion that it was hunger. But his lower stomach was still sending him signals. He wasn’t sure why.

Maybe the feeling of hunger was like a bar or something, the more hunger you had the higher the feeling would be. He supposed that made sense. He could confirm that during lunch, he just had to make sure to eat a bit more than he had at breakfast. That wasn’t a very difficult task.

He didn’t need to wait for lunch though, The Time Lord had gotten up and gotten some biscuits from the kitchen and offered them to both him and Martha.

The part human man had eagerly accepted the offer, wanting to try it for the taste and to try and get rid of the annoying sensation in his stomach.

He found out that he still liked the cookies but also that whatever it was that his stomach was telling him wasn’t related to hunger.

He shifted slightly on his chair, the feeling was rather distracting. He was sure it had gotten more prominent since breakfast an hour ago.

He was sure that he would figure out what it was eventually, he had done that for thirst and hunger as well. For the time being, he just tried to ignore it and put his focus back on the books.

* * *

This went on for another hour and it had become harder and harder for our pour Metacrisis to concentrate on the book he was currently going through. He still hadn’t figured out exactly what he was reading, the text just wasn’t registering through the insistent nagging his body was doing.

_And he still didn’t know why._

He didn’t bother telling The Doctor or Martha about it. It wouldn’t change the situation and they were both busy, he didn’t want to risk angering them by distracting them. It was bad enough that he wasn’t able to concentrate on the task at hand. It was important, Donna’s life was depending on it. Well, how she would live her life anyway.

He fought down the tears that were threatening to fall. Hating himself for failing such a simple task. Was there anything he could do right?

Well, besides bother people and ruining their life.

He let out a whimper as suddenly a stab of pain shot through him. Coming from the area that had been bothering him for the past couple of hours. He bent over, crossing his arms across his lower torso and resting his head on the table.

_He just wanted it to stop._

* * *

The Doctor had found himself increasingly more worried about his brother. Though he wasn’t sure why everything seemed to be fine. There was nothing there that suggested something was wrong. At least that was what he thought until he suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of distress coming from the other. This helped him realise why he had been worried in the first place, it had come from their bond, the other had been accidentally sharing his unease, though much more subtle than before. The Metacrisis let out a whimper just as the Time Lord decided to get up and check on the man across the table, making the alien immediately shot up from his chair and moving so he could crouch next to the chair of the other.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Martha hovering, also concerned for the distressed male.

“Hey, what’s it? What’s wrong?” The Doctor asked his brother while rubbing his back.

“Make it stop! Please. Make it go away!” The Metacrisis begged, not quite registering the question he was asked. “Please.”

“What is it. What’s hurting?” The Time Lord tried again gently. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what is wrong.”

“I don’t know.” The part human man answered in a shaky voice.

Martha has joined them and was crouching on the other side of the chair.

“Can you try describing what you’re feeling?” She wondered.

The Metacrisis took a deep breath before he started to talk.

“It’s just… it’s been there since I woke up.” He whispered. “But, it got worse.”

“Please, try to describe it.” The Doctor tried now.

“I don’t know how.” His brother responded with a whimper. “Some kind of pressure?” He added unsurely. “Though it’s hurting now.”

“Where?” The Time Lord wondered.

“Stomach.”

Both Martha and The Doctor frowned at that, trying to think of what it could be.

“Lower stomach?” Martha asked, she really could only think of one possible thing that it could be, though it felt too obvious.

On the other hand, he just had a biology change and she didn’t know if everything was the same, she was pretty sure a lot had changed for him, so it was possible that he didn’t know the signs.

The part human man thought about the question for a bit but then nodded.

“The pain is in constant or more like short quick stabs?” She continued.

“Stabs.” He answered, just as another shot through him. He didn’t bother to hide the wince, they already knew that he was incapable of looking after himself, anyway. “I think it’s getting worse.”

“And the pressure, is it pulsing?” She wondered.

The Metacrisis nodded again, before looking at her. “Do you know what it is?”

“There’s nothing I know of that match those symptoms.” The Time Lord mentioned, but he also looked curiously at Martha.

“Did you use the loo after you woke up?” She asked him, considering his current state it was important to figure this out quickly, so there was no real use of talking around her suspicion.

Both men frowned at that.

“No, but...” The most human of the two answered, wondering why she would ask that.

Though, if he thought about it. When he had been thirsty his body had felt different than it normally would’ve in his throat. Same for hunger but in his stomach.

_His bladder was located in his lower torso._

His eyes widened in realisation. “Oh!”.

A human could only hold their bladders for a maximum of 8 hours.

He hadn’t gone since he had woken up on the TARDIS floor and that was...

_About 19 hours ago._

“You think that might be the problem?” He asked not sure why he did so. It made perfect sense after all.

_Why hadn’t he thought of it? Then he wouldn’t have had to bother them._

“It’s the only thing I can think of that corresponds to what you’re describing.” She confirmed.

“It can’t hurt to try.” The Time Lord suggested. “Do you think you could get up?”

His brother nodded, though he wasn’t entirely sure.

The Metacrisis put his hand to lean on the table for support before standing up, he let out a gasp, as the movement seemed to make the discomfort higher, and bent over slightly.

“Ah! That doesn’t feel good.” He whispered.

The Doctor soothingly rubbed his back, feeling worried about the other but he didn’t show it. He was very certain that his brother needed him to be strong.

The Metacrisis took a few agonizing steps away from the chair before stopping short as he felt something contract in his stomach, rather painfully.

He hunched over as a reflex.

_And then he felt it._

He felt something loosen within him and not a second later he felt something leak out of him.

The part human man instinctively knew what it was and immediately tried to tighten the loosened muscle again.

_That was easier said than done._

It didn’t work so he instead tried to grab himself to try to stop it.

He couldn’t wet himself, that would make a mess resulting in the TARDIS being furious with him and kicking him out. And then what?

The Doctor would surely side with the TARDIS and wouldn’t want to bother with someone who couldn’t even look after himself.

Martha wouldn’t help him either if that happened. She had made it pretty clear that she didn’t want to room with him any more when she left the TARDIS the first time.

Jack wouldn’t want him either, the only one he cared about was the real deal.

Sarah Jane already had Luke, there would be no room for him.

_He was going to be alone._

He choked back a sob, it wouldn’t do to appear weak. He could still get to the bathroom, it wasn’t too late yet.

The leaking had thankfully stopped, but he was under no illusions that it would be so for long.

The Metacrisis felt someone rubbing his back, The Doctor he realised. He could also feel the other man sending comfort through their bond.

_It helped._

He felt a tiny bit better because of it.

“I think Martha’s right about the issue.” He admitted. “Actually, I’m pretty sure.” He blushed slightly.

_If he had only realised it sooner._

“Right, the bathroom is on the other side of the hall.” The Time Lord told him, unnecessary, he had already known that. “Can you try to walk?”

The part human man nodded, carefully moving one foot forward.

He wasn’t quite prepared for the protests coming from his bladder at the movement. He fought with all his might against the liquid that wanted to escape him.

He wasn’t sure if he could make it to the toilet, he had to go so badly. And if every step was going to be like the last one, there was no way he could do that.

He cursed in Gallifreyan. How could he not have realised what the was problem earlier?

Maybe if he cleaned the mess up himself the TARDIS wouldn’t kick him out. He could try that.

The thought got interrupted by the TARDIS herself, sending soothing vibes to him in a similar way as the Time Lord was doing. The Metacrisis recognised it as coming from the TARDIS since he had the memories from The Doctor.

He realised he could still understand the TARDIS and she seemed to be trying to say that she wouldn’t kick him out.

_Really?_ He found that hard to believe, he had no right to be here.

But the ancient time ship responded with an affirmative message.

It helped settle his concerns slightly, but he was still doubtful.

The part human took a deep breath before trying another step.

He felt something contract, probably his bladder if he was realistic, and once again found himself leaking.

_But this time he was helpless to stop it._

He let out a gasp.

_No no, this can’t happen. Please no!_

* * *

The Time Lord frowned at that last gasp, immediately followed by a rising panic he felt through their bond.

He moved quickly in front of his brother so he could make eye contact. Though that was fruitless as the other was looking down with closed eyes. He grabbed the others shoulder to get his attention, which he got.

“Are you, oh..” he began but then noticed the other’s light grey sweatpants slowly turning to a much darker grey.

The Metacrisis blushed as he realised what was happening and that the Time Lord knew as well.

“I can’t stop it.” He whispered slightly choking as he fought tears.

“That’s okay.” The Time Lord smiled reassuringly. “Just relax.” He moved to hug his brother, careful so he wouldn’t get wet.

The other man wasn’t sure if he could relax at all as The Doctor had ordered.

He felt like disappearing through the ground. That would be much better, for everyone involved. It would be better if he just didn’t exist.

The leaking had turned into a stream and he was now peeing his pants in full force.

He bit his lip. Why had his body to be like this? He hadn’t asked for this, he hadn’t asked for a body he couldn’t understand.

He had to admit that what his body was doing felt rather good.

But that didn’t change his hate for his changed body. The body he couldn’t steer properly, couldn’t handle. The body that was less.

_The body he didn’t want._

He couldn’t quite keep his tears as everything hit him. He couldn’t deal with everything that had been going on. He just didn’t feel capable of it handling any more.

_It was too much._

* * *

The Time Lord held his little brother as he wept, while also soothing him through their bond. It was obvious that everything had become too much for him, with this accident being the straw that broke the camels back.

He couldn’t blame the other man, it must be really difficult to be dealing with a changed body in more than just appearance.

_Actually anything but appearance._

“Shh… just let it out.” The Time Lord told his little brother. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay”

He noticed that the TARDIS had changed the floor before the younger man had lost control, to absorb all the urine so it wouldn’t need to be cleaned.

The Time Lord smiled slightly. He had such a clever ship.

When the Metacrisis had finally run out of tears he stayed in the Time Lord’s embrace, with his head leaning on the other’s chest, listening to the soothing double heartbeat, The Doctor rubbing his back.

He could almost forget what had happened. _Almost_ being the operative word.

“Are you feeling better?” The Time Lord asked his brother and got a small nod in response. “Your stomach no longer feeling odd?”

The other man just nodded again.

“Good” The Doctor kissed his forehead. “Let’s go get you cleaned up, okay?”

He just got another nod in response.

The Time Lord turned to Martha, who was sitting at the table they had vacated. “I think we’ll go to the living room afterwards, maybe watch a film?”

She nodded. “That’s not a bad idea.”


	6. Clean Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I don't know what this is either.

The Doctor gently guided the Metacrisis down the hallway, to their room and immediately into the en-suite bathroom.

He turned to his brother, gently lifting his chin so he could look his brother in the eyes. He studied the other a bit. He was awfully quiet and that worried the Time Lord.

“I’ll go get you a towel and some clean clothes. Why don’t you turn on the shower already and get the temperature right for you?” He suggested.

The Metacrisis nodded at that before turning towards the shower to do as instructed.

The Doctor was glad that his brother still seemed somewhat responsive and hadn’t completely shut down. He moved back into their room to get the towel and clothes as promised. He chose similar clothes as he had given to the man earlier. Though, this time he grabbed black sweatpants with a light blue T-shirt.

When he moved back into the bathroom he laid the clothes on the counter while hanging the towel over the rack, he noticed that the other man had done as he had asked but nothing more.

His brother looked uncertain at him.

“Just take off your clothes and go under the shower. It’s just me.” He instructed. “Though I can go wait in our bedroom if you want.” He added realising how that sounded, already turning around to do just that, no use in making the other man more uncomfortable.

“ _No!_ ” His brother stopped him. “That’s fine. I mean.” He searched for the words. “I don’t wanna be alone right now.” He whispered, kicking himself for being so needy. It was such a weird request, you were supposed to be in the bathroom _alone_. There was no way the Time Lord would agree with that. But he didn’t think it to be a good idea to be alone with his thoughts right now, he didn’t think that would end well. He needed a distraction. He looked uncertainly at the Doctor, bracing himself for the anger that was surely coming.

_Except it didn’t._

“That’s okay, I’ll just stay here.” The Time Lord nodded to himself. Glad that the younger man was speaking. “Take your time.” He instructed as he leant against the counter.

The Metacrisis nodded at his twin, before moving to take off his wet clothes, immediately throwing them in the laundry chute. Before moving under the stream of water coming from the showerhead.

It was once again a completely new feeling. Part of him was getting tired of constantly encountering new sensations, but he didn’t exactly have a choice. At least it was a rather nice feeling for once, it felt as if some of his problems washed away with the water that was warming him up.

He turned to the Time Lord.

“Did you just say our bedroom?” He questioned just as what the elder had said caught up with him.

“Yes, I did.” The Doctor confirmed.

“But it’s yours.” The part human insisted. “I’m just invading, I guess.”

“Right now, we’re sharing it, all right? The TARDIS isn’t up to creating a new room for you at the moment and this does work fine doesn’t it? Or don’t you like that setup?” The Time Lord pointed out. “I’m barely here anyway, you know that. Whether we’ll keep sharing is a discussion for another date. It certainly doesn't have priority”

The Metacrisis nodded “I suppose that makes sense. I’m fine with our current setup. At least for now.”

“Good ”The Doctor smiled slightly glad that wasn't going to be a problem.

The Metacrisis put some shampoo in his hair. Okay, that might not be the main reason he was currently in the shower but he might as well do everything while he was there. He was also trying to distract himself from what happened. Nothing helped better with that than a full shower. Well, except maybe chasing some bad aliens.

He rinsed it out of his hair again, noticing that he didn’t like the smell as much as he used to. It was still fine but he would probably look for something else later. Though right now it didn’t have a priority.

He supposed that he would have great fun with testing different kinds of shampoos, shower gels and other things. It was one of the only things he liked about regeneration. 

_Experimenting with scents._

He smiled slightly to himself as he found himself making plans to do just that sometime in the near future.

Not that he would ever admit that out loud to anyone, he was allowed to have his secrets, right?

He tried to grab the bottle of shower gel but accidentally dropped it, he flinched as it fell to the floor with a loud bang. It had fallen out of reach of the shower just in front of The Doctor, who was still leaning against the counter. He had taken off his jacket, something he often did when he was in his room.

The Time Lord bend over to pick it up and moved to give it to his brother, but he ended up tripping over the mat making him shoot forwards and ending up next to his twin in the shower with a yelp.

He caught himself on the wall, just outside the reach of the water. He let out a small sigh of relief as that meant he wouldn't have to change his clothes. Though the TARDIS had other plans as the stream suddenly widened, soaking him.

He groaned, cursing his ship, as his younger brother burst out in giggles.

The Time Lord glared at his brother for a few seconds before he burst into laughter himself.

When both men had composed themselves again, the Time Lord glared at the ceiling.

“I don’t appreciate you soaking me!” He scolded the TARDIS but only got obvious amusement back from the ancient time-ship.

“She probably made you trip as well.” The Metacrisis added with a bright smile on his face. “She planned it.”

The Doctor sighed as he moved away from under the water stream after giving the shower gel bottle back to his brother. “Someone ought to teach her appropriate behaviour,” he stated as he started to unbutton his soaked Oxford shirt.

“You’ve been trying to for over 500 years.” The Metacrisis pointed out. “You’ll never get her to behave. And you love it.” He added with a knowing smile, not that the Time Lord saw it. Though The Doctor was certainly aware that it currently plastered on the other’s face

“Oh, just finish your shower.” The Time Lord instructed mock angry as he threw his soaked clothing in the laundry chute and grabbed the towel to dry himself. He wasn’t upset with the man at all. He was glad that his counterpart was laughing, even if it was at his expense.

“Hey, that is my towel.” The Metacrisis exclaimed indignantly when he saw that his brother had stolen it.

“I’ll get you a new one.” The Doctor responded absentminded as he left the bathroom for the bedroom to get dressed again.

“You better.” his counterpart mumbled before opening the shower gel.

* * *

As the Time Lord got dressed in a blue suit, he was out of clean brown ones, somehow those had gone quick in the past couple of days, he found himself thinking about his twin. It was obvious that his little brother was suffering from the chances in his new body. It worried him that the younger man seemed to expect to be kicked out any moment, the other man hadn't explicitly said it, but the way he was acting certainly implied it. 

Besides the other had also been, subconsciously, hinting at it through their bond.

He was going to have to do something about that, not that there was much he could do besides reassuring him that The Doctor would not be kicking him out of _their_ ship and supporting him in the best way possible.

He somehow didn't think that just telling the other that he wouldn't be kicked out would do anything, except potentially making it worse. The Metacrisis might distrust his claim that he wanted him to stay and then would be worried about the fact that it had even crossed the Time Lord's mind.

The Doctor sighed, as he ran a hand through his wet hair. It was a complicated situation and he wished it wasn't. His twin had inherited way too much of Donna's insecurity.

He supposed that not saying anything to the other man on the subject would be best, for now at least.

_He would do everything within his powers to end his little brother suffering._

The Time Lord nodded to himself, it was going to be fine, everything was going to be fine. He would make sure of it. He would figure out how to help his brother

He grabbed a new towel as he had promised before turning to go back into the bathroom, with the resolve to take care of his twin and to keep dry this time.

* * *

The Doctor and the Metacrisis entered the living room where Martha was already lounging on one of the couches. The Time Lord just plopped down on the end of the other couch, where he normally sat.

The part human man stood there a bit uncomfortable, not entirely sure of what to do with himself. He didn't quite know where to sit, he obviously couldn't sit on the place he was used to as the Time Lord. He didn't want to invade the space of either of the other occupants, so he eventually just awkwardly sat down in the chair feeling a bit out of place. It felt weird to be sitting there, he never sat there.

“Have you decided on a film?” The Time Lord asked Martha, unaware of his twin's struggles.

“I thought we could just watch the Lion King.” She shrugged.

The Doctor nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

So the three humanoids ended up watching the Lion King, all of them trying to forget the earlier events. Some more successful than others.

The Metacrisis shifted slightly in his chair, he wasn't enjoying the film. Not that he didn't like the Lion King, he loved it.

But his heart just wasn’t in the movie. Martha and The Doctor seemed to be enjoying themselves. They seemed happy without him. Never mind that they both seemed too emerged into the movie to even notice their company.

Why was he even here? 

_He shouldn't be here._

Surely they would have more fun if he wasn't here. Never mind that they both seemed too emerged into the movie to even notice their company and therefore couldn't care less if he was there or not. 

_Why didn't anyone like him?_

He found himself struggling to hold tears back at the thought. 

The part human man bolted from the room, no longer capable of ignoring the, sort of non-existent, happiness coming from the other 2 humanoids.

_He just wanted to hide._

* * *

The Time Lord frowned when his brother practically fled from the room. That observation coupled with the distress he could feel coming through their bond made for one concerned alien.

He shared a look with Martha, who also felt worried about the other’s sudden departure.

The Doctor sighed before standing up. “I’ll hunt him down.” He informed Martha before leaving the room as well.

It didn’t take him long to find his counterpart. The TARDIS wanting her thief to find the troubled man helped a lot, not that he would admit that he had used her help. He patted her walls thankful for the help anyway.

He found his twin in the TARDIS’ garden under one of the many trees, shaking as he was crying.

The Time Lord sat down next to his brother, carefully manoeuvering the other so he could hold him in his arms, the Doctor was surprised to not be met with any resistance.

The Metacrisis wasn’t sure what the Time Lord was doing here. Surely the movie and Martha were more important than him?

Nevertheless, he was grateful for the comfort the elder provided him and allowed himself to be pulled on the other’s lap. He was vaguely aware that he was staining his brother’s shirt, but he couldn’t exactly stop the tears. So he let the feeling of comfort that was flowing through their bond wash over him. He was grateful that the Time Lord was here, despite not deserving him to be there.

He didn't understand why the Doctor would forgo the movie in favour of him, but he didn't feel capable of asking that right now.

With the Time Lord’s comfort, the Metacrisis found himself slowly calming down again. His brother being here, especially for him, made him feel wanted. He knew that it was a lie, but it was nice to feel it for a short bit. He knew he should be careful about things like that, it could only end up in disappointment. But he couldn't bring himself to care.

The Doctor had started running his hand through the other’s hair.

“Do you want to talk about what upset you?” He asked this brother.

The Metacrisis frowned, he had partly expected that the Time Lord would finally kick him out under the muse of him being so emotional.

_Really, why hadn’t he yet?_

He had been nothing but a burden for the time he had been here, why wasn’t he thrown on the streets yet?

The part human man didn’t want to tell the Time Lord what upset him, saying that he wanted something he wasn’t allowed to have would only give The Doctor more reasons on why he should be kicked out already. 

If he wanted to have even a small chance of being allowed to stay he would have to get himself under control. 

_Not act like a crybaby._

Thus he shook his head at the Doctor’s question.

“I’m sorry, you probably wanted to watch the movie.” He mumbled, knowing the Time Lord’s, and his own, love for the Lion King.

The Doctor gently kissed his brother on the head in response. “Some things are more important, besides I know the story perfectly fine anyway. And not to forget, Martha probably paused the film anyway. So neither of us missed anything. Do you think that you’re ready to go back?” He asked him, it slightly worried him that the other didn’t want to talk about what had happened, he had sensed a lot of uncertainty and a bit of fear coming from their bond as his brother had been thinking his answer through.

He supposed that his counterpart was scared of how he would react if he learned what had upset the other.

_But for the life of him, he couldn’t think of why._

The Metacrisis nodded uncertainty, he wasn’t entirely sure if he could sit through the film and not get upset again for the same reason as before.

The Time Lord sensed the other’s uneasiness and decided to keep his brother close and comforted. He would do anything to keep his twin alright. 

“Alright then, let’s go.” He stated as he helped his counterpart up again, not that the other was a lot of help with that.

The Doctor guided his twin back to the living room and onto the middle of the couch he had sat on earlier and then sat down next to his brother, before indicating to Martha that she could continue the film.

The Metacrisis found himself cuddling into his brother's side, basking in the warm feeling of comfort that was coming through their bond.

He had missed this, he used to do this kind of thing with his older brother a lot when he had been young, he would comfort The Doctor after he had had a nightmare until he went to the academy.

He had had a lot of trouble getting used to being separated from his elder brother and their bond. The first couple of weeks had been very tough, but he had gotten through it in the end.

_He had grown up._

That didn't mean that he had missed being so close with his brother. Even after he had finished the academy they didn't spend as much time together any more. With his brother having been placed in the capital city for his job and all.

He sighed slightly, that weren't his memories but of the Doctor. It was probably going to take him a long time to properly separate himself from that. Things were going to be hard for him for quite some time to come.

He snuggled closer to the Time Lord, forcing the thoughts out of his head. Now was not the right time to be thinking of that.

For now, he just let himself be content. 

_Basking in the feeling of home._


End file.
